Features Books

Since
completing work on Active Directory Administrator's Pocket Consultant,
Group Policy Administrator's Pocket Consultant and PowerShell 2.0
Administrator's Pocket Consultant, I've been heads down working on a
slate of new books. The first of these books is Windows 7 Administrator's Pocket Consultant,
which ships to the printers on Wednesday (8/12) and is being released on
8/26. Windows 7 Administrator's Pocket Consultant is 672 pages and meant for
administrators and developers.

Next is Windows 7: The Definitive Guide.
I just finished writing the final chapter. The book's being published on
10/22. Lots of work to do between now and then as I'm just starting the
editing and review phase. The book's 1025 pages. It's huge!

The final book is Exchange Server 2010
Administrator's Pocket Consultant. I'm writing the final chapter and
front matter this week, then will start editing and review. Exchange 2010
essentially is a new product as everything about Exchange has changed from
basic security on up. Exchange Server 2010 Administrator's Pocket
Consultant is being published on 10/7.

Completing
2200+ pages of writing was exhausting. Definitely needing some R&R,
especially as this follows 1000+ pages of writing previously. The next few
months of editing and review are going to be intense.

Hope you enjoy the books!

Other Featured Books

Windows
Group Policy Administrator's Pocket Consultant
(ISBN: 9780735626768) was published on February 11. It’s my 98th
published book and 30th for Microsoft Press. My 99th and 100th books
will be Windows 7 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant and Windows
Server 2008 R2 Inside Out, not necessarily in that order.

Windows Group Policy Administrator's Pocket Consultant is written
from start to finish for Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM), Group
Policy Preferences (GPP) and standard Group Policy settings.
The Introduction, outline and additional details for Windows Group Policy Administrator's Pocket
Consultant are here.

Active
Directory Administrator's Pocket Consultant (ISBN: 978-0735626485) was
published on January 14. It’s my 97th published book and 29th for Microsoft
Press. My 98th, 99th and 100th books will be Group Policy Administrator's
Pocket Consultant, Windows 7 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant and Windows
Server 2008 R2 Inside Out, not necessarily in that order.
Buy the book.

The Amazon.com ReviewOunce for ounce and dollar for dollar, the Pocket
Consultant series from Microsoft Press is one of the
best values around. The editors do a good job of
recruiting competent authors and having them comply with
well-thought-out style and formatting rules. Microsoft
Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket
Consultant is one of the gems of the series. Author
William Stanek has spent time working with his
subject--this book wasn't rushed to market to match the
Windows XP release date--and he's good at revealing its
administrative procedures clearly and concisely. The
book is nicely indexed, so locating the section you need
takes very little effort. This book--slightly larger
than a paperback novel--is ideal for a harried
administrator responsible for many different software
products, as well as for consultants who need to learn
how to use Windows XP Professional in a hurry.

A
particularly nice characteristic of Stanek's style: His
skill at combining straight procedures ("Just follow
these steps and it'll work") with supplementary
information about options ("On the other hand, if you're
doing something unusual, you might need to modify the
standard procedure a bit"). As no real-life installation
of Windows XP ever seems to match authors' ideas of
normalcy, the supplementary information is critical.
Screen shots are nicely handled as well. Their presence
helps clarify what the text means, but they're not so
large as to waste space.

The Barnes & Noble Review
Whether you're upgrading your entire enterprise or
simply buying new PCs on an ad hoc basis, Windows XP
Professional is coming into your enterprise. If you're
responsible for supporting or administering it, this
handy pocket guide offers you more useful answers per
ounce than any other book we've seen. It's especially
strong on XP's new administrative features, and those
really important tasks (like setting up desktop VPN
connections) that you won't do often enough to memorize
on your own.

The book's organized into four sections: essentials,
core administration, networking, and
optimization/recovery. In 350 pages, it manages to be
remarkably complete. Want to use Windows XP's new Remote
Assistance feature to resolve users' problems without
leaving your computer? Prohibit users from setting up
Internet Connection Sharing on your DNS domain? Set a
new home page for all your users at once? Place custom
content on each user's desktop? Use System Restore
across a network? Lock the taskbar, so it can't be moved
or lost? William B. Stanek walks you through all these
tasks, and more.

We could go on. Setting disk quotas. Managing
security zones. Using notebook power schemes. Rolling
back troublesome driver versions. Checking the status of
a LAN connection. Configuring the synchronization of
offline files. If you need to do it as a manager or
support professional, there's no faster way to find out
how.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The practical, portable guide to Windows® Vista!

Whether you support 50 desktops or 5000, this
indispensable guide provides fast answers for the
day-to-day administration of the Windows® Vista operating system. This pocket-sized
resource zeroes in on essential desktop support issues
and procedures—delivering critical details through
quick-reference tables, step-by-step instructions, and
lists. It's the precise information you need to solve
problems and get the job done—whether you're at your
desk or in the field!

Get fast facts to:

Manage and troubleshoot system configuration

Configure hardware and network devices

Customize desktop settings and optimize the user
workspace

Control system access through user and group
accounts

Support laptops and mobile users

Enable remote access—from dial-up to wireless

Configure offline files and disk quotas

Use Group Policy to customize Internet settings

Schedule routine maintenance and backups

Resolve system problems and optimize performance

About Ordering

This book is available everywhere Microsoft books are sold. I hope you'll
order the book from your favorite bookstore. All on-line bookstores carry
the book as well. Here's the direct link to order the book at these
bookstores:

The Barnes & Noble Review
Imagine a gigantic book packed with
expert Windows Server 2003 help
for experienced professionals,
written by one of the world’s
most respected Windows authors,
with the benefit of insider
access to Microsoft’s own
development teams. You’ve just
imagined Microsoft Windows Server
2003 Inside Out.

William R. Stanek covers every
nook and cranny, from remote
installation to disaster recovery.
Along the way, you’ll find lengthy
chapters on topics some Windows
Server 2003 books barely touch upon
-- for instance, optimizing
performance and managing the
Registry. Active Directory planning,
setup, and migration are covered in
depth. So is practically everything
you can do with AD once it’s running
-- from prestaging clients to
publishing shares to authorizing
DHCP servers.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Take your Windows Server 2003 knowledge to the next
level! Designed for Windows system administrators, this
definitive resource delivers in-depth information about
installing and configuring Windows Server 2003,
performing upgrades and migrations, automating
deployments, implementing security features, managing
software updates and patches, administering users and
accounts, managing Active Directory® directory services,
and more. With INSIDE OUT, you'll discover the best and
fastest ways to perform core administrative tasks, with
an award-winning format that makes it easy to find
exactly the tips, troubleshooting solutions, and
workarounds you need. In addition, the CD-ROM contains
an eBook and more than 100 timesaving tools and scripts.

About Ordering

This book is available everywhere Microsoft books are sold. I hope you'll
order the book from your favorite bookstore. All on-line bookstores carry
the book as well. Here's the direct link to order the book at these
bookstores:

The Barnes & Noble Review
If you were to distill Windows Server 2003 into 500
pages of specific, trustworthy, fast-access answers for
system administrators, you’d wind up with something like
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator’s Pocket
Consultant.

William Stanek begins with a high-level look at
Microsoft’s tools for managing Windows Server 2003 plus
detailed coverage of monitoring processes, services, and
events and a full chapter on support techniques --
including Remote Desktop. He also presents a solid
overview of the many ways in which you can automate
Windows Server administration, including group policies,
scripting, security templates, and the Scheduled Task
Wizard.

There’s a full section on administering data:
managing hard drives, working with basic and dynamic
disks, administering volume sets and RAID arrays,
controlling shares and permissions, auditing, quotas,
and more. Stanek covers backup/recovery in detail -- for
example, showing you how to avoid the pitfalls
associated with recovering encrypted data. The book’s
final section demystifies networking: not only TCP/IP,
DHCP, DNS, and WINS but printer troubleshooting, remote
access security, and other essential topics.

Unless you're a kangaroo, this book won’t quite
fit in your pocket. But it is small enough to
take anywhere you’re working. And it’s useful enough
that you'll want to.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Here's the practical, pocket-sized reference for
IT professionals supporting Windows .NET Server.
Designed for quick referencing, this portable
guide covers all the essentials for performing
everyday system-administration tasks. Topics
include managing workstations and servers, using
Microsoft Active Directory services, creating
and administering user and group accounts,
managing files and directories, data security
and auditing, data back-up and recovery, network
administration using TCP/IP, WINS, and DNS, and
more.

About Ordering

This book is available everywhere Microsoft books are sold. I hope you'll
order the book from your favorite bookstore. All on-line bookstores carry
the book as well. Here's the direct link to order the book at these
bookstores:

The Amazon.com ReviewOunce for ounce and dollar for dollar, the Pocket
Consultant series from Microsoft Press is one of the
best values around. The editors do a good job of
recruiting competent authors and having them comply with
well-thought-out style and formatting rules. Microsoft
Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket
Consultant is one of the gems of the series. Author
William Stanek has spent time working with his
subject--this book wasn't rushed to market to match the
Windows XP release date--and he's good at revealing its
administrative procedures clearly and concisely. The
book is nicely indexed, so locating the section you need
takes very little effort. This book--slightly larger
than a paperback novel--is ideal for a harried
administrator responsible for many different software
products, as well as for consultants who need to learn
how to use Windows XP Professional in a hurry.

A
particularly nice characteristic of Stanek's style: His
skill at combining straight procedures ("Just follow
these steps and it'll work") with supplementary
information about options ("On the other hand, if you're
doing something unusual, you might need to modify the
standard procedure a bit"). As no real-life installation
of Windows XP ever seems to match authors' ideas of
normalcy, the supplementary information is critical.
Screen shots are nicely handled as well. Their presence
helps clarify what the text means, but they're not so
large as to waste space.

The Barnes & Noble Review
Whether you're upgrading your entire enterprise or
simply buying new PCs on an ad hoc basis, Windows XP
Professional is coming into your enterprise. If you're
responsible for supporting or administering it, this
handy pocket guide offers you more useful answers per
ounce than any other book we've seen. It's especially
strong on XP's new administrative features, and those
really important tasks (like setting up desktop VPN
connections) that you won't do often enough to memorize
on your own.

The book's organized into four sections: essentials,
core administration, networking, and
optimization/recovery. In 350 pages, it manages to be
remarkably complete. Want to use Windows XP's new Remote
Assistance feature to resolve users' problems without
leaving your computer? Prohibit users from setting up
Internet Connection Sharing on your DNS domain? Set a
new home page for all your users at once? Place custom
content on each user's desktop? Use System Restore
across a network? Lock the taskbar, so it can't be moved
or lost? William B. Stanek walks you through all these
tasks, and more.

We could go on. Setting disk quotas. Managing
security zones. Using notebook power schemes. Rolling
back troublesome driver versions. Checking the status of
a LAN connection. Configuring the synchronization of
offline files. If you need to do it as a manager or
support professional, there's no faster way to find out
how.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The practical, portable guide to Windows® XP
Professional!

Whether you support 50 desktops or 5000, this
indispensable guide provides fast answers for the
day-to-day administration of the Windows® XP
Professional operating system. This pocket-sized
resource zeroes in on essential desktop support issues
and procedures—delivering critical details through
quick-reference tables, step-by-step instructions, and
lists. It's the precise information you need to solve
problems and get the job done—whether you're at your
desk or in the field!

Get fast facts to:

Manage and troubleshoot system configuration

Configure hardware and network devices

Customize desktop settings and optimize the user
workspace

Control system access through user and group
accounts

Support laptops and mobile users

Enable remote access—from dial-up to wireless

Configure offline files and disk quotas

Use Group Policy to customize Internet settings

Schedule routine maintenance and backups

Resolve system problems and optimize performance

About Ordering

This book is available everywhere Microsoft books are sold. I hope you'll
order the book from your favorite bookstore. All on-line bookstores carry
the book as well. Here's the direct link to order the book at these
bookstores:

I've been a professional writer for a long, long time, so I've written
quite a few books. The complete list follows, and the ones marked with
asterisks were best-sellers but shh! don't tell anyone. (They might make
me speak at more events or something. Eek!)

I used to write a lot of for magazine, but haven't had much time lately.
(Does anyone ever have enough time to do everything they want? :-) In
the heydays of the 90's I wrote a heck of a lot of articles for PC Magazine
and Dr. Dobbs. Anyway, the following are a list of some of my favorite
articles. Most of the PC Magazine articles you can still find on the PC
Magazine site.

My books are available at bookstores throughout the U.S., Canada, UK,
Germany, France, and many other countries. If the bookstore doesn't have the
book on the shelf, you can ask the store to order it for you. And, I really
hope you will.

Be aware that if any site other than O'Reilly Safari has an e-book version of my books it is not a
legitimate copy. The only legitimate copies of the books are the printed
versions sold through bookstores and the e-book versions on O'Reilly Safari.